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Season of High School Football Hits May Alter Brain

Players did not have concussions, still showed changes in white matter

WebMD News from HealthDay

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By Lisa Esposito

HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, April 8, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- Even among high school football players who've never had a concussion, a small preliminary study suggests that changes can still occur to their brains within the course of a single season.

The study involved 45 members of a 2012 varsity team. Players underwent two brain scans -- one before and one after the season -- with a special type of MRI.

Throughout the season, each player wore a helmet fitted with an accelerometer device. "It's able to capture linear and rotational accelerations that can then be used to figure out what forces have been applied to the head," said study author Dr. Alexander Powers, an assistant professor of neurosurgery, pediatrics and orthopedics at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.

The telemetry system used in the study transmits real-time data to researchers on the sideline. "During the season, we captured every single hit. Every practice, every game," Powers said.

None of the players suffered a concussion. Yet, the more total hits a player had received to the head, the more changes that were measured in the white matter of his brain, the study found.

It's too soon to make conclusions from one U.S. high school football squad among the more than 14,000 that compete each year. And the study doesn't show whether the brain changes are temporary or permanent, or how they might affect players' lives.

The white matter "is essentially the conduction part of the brain," said Powers. "The fact that we do have this abnormality in the white matter that correlates so well with the amount of hits that kids had is really striking."

On a personal level, he said football "teaches some great lessons," and two of his sons now aged 10 and 12 have played youth football. "But here's the thing," Powers said. "I will not let them play high school football."

He is to present the findings Tuesday at the annual meeting of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, in San Francisco.

One expert not involved with the study described the "almost gladiatorial" nature of football and said the study "raises new concerns."